The Things We Don't Know
by CosmicTwilight
Summary: Bella is a freshman in her first year of college who unexpectedly gives birth to a baby she didn't realise she was carrying. Her return in Forks brings changes not only for herself but those around her.


**THE THINGS WE DON'T KNOW**

**Standard Disclaimer: **All characters herein belong to Stephenie Meyer unless otherwise stated and are merely borrowed for the continuation of the fandom. All music referenced in the clip or as part of the 'soundtrack' will be credited in authors note.

**Story Synopsis: **Bella is a freshman in her first year of college who unexpectedly gives birth to a baby she didn't realise she was carrying. Her return in Forks brings changes not only for herself but those around her.

**Authors Notes:** Thoughts are greatly appreciated, I've had this sitting on my computer for over a year now and thought it might be worth putting out there and what people think.

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

"Hey, give me that bottle," I whined snatching the bottle from my roommate's hand. When I first started at NYU I hadn't even taken the time to consider what sort of roommate I could end up with. To say I was fortunate to room with Angela was an understatement. Her best friend Jessica wound up with a girl called Lauren, Lauren was only in the school for the boys and the parties. She didn't really have any direction in life, Angela had her whole future planned – unfortunately for her she was also a party girl at heart. This was how we ended up at the party of the year for the night. But she was still a responsible one party girl, when I snatched the bottle from her she lowered her bottom lip an

"Come on Ange; let's get back to the room. I think you're all partied out."

"No!" Angela whined getting to her feet, her arms latched around my shoulders as she held onto me. The bottom I snatched fell to the ground and shattered. "Bella!" I looked at her with a smile as her face deflated looking down at the alcohol that was now sprawled on the floor. "You wasted perfectly good booze."

"Oh no, however will we cope?" I teased.

Getting Angela to bed hadn't proven so difficulty, after her head hit the pillow she was out like a light. I got a bottle of water from how bar fridge and placed it on the table beside her bed before following suit and going to bed myself. It felt like I hadn't even been asleep five minutes when a pain shot through me and I pushed myself up and leaned against the headboard.

The pain spread through me unlike any other I had felt before, this was something more than your typical period cramps, and this was a whole other level of pain. My body hunched over as I rolled to my side in bed gripping my hands at my waist. Uncertainty crossed my mind as I thought of Angela who was passed out beside me, the alcohol clearly too much for her.

"Angela," I spoke calmly shaking her, but there was no response. Another wave of pain shot threw me and that was when the tears started. The sheet across my lap was suddenly wet and my legs were covered in a clear liquid. My heart rate picked up as the pain spread across my stomach and down to my centre.

The next wave of pain sent me out of my bed and into the bathroom, the wet sheets dropping to the ground in their wake. 'Come on Bella, breath in, breath out' my mentality wasn't very useful as the breathing worked for about thirty seconds before another wave hit. Closing the bathroom door I leaned towards the vanity with my nails digging into the countertop.

Again I felt the wetness fall down my legs, instinctively my hands raced down to feel it and it was then I smelt it. The scent of blood filled the air causing my heart to quicken its pace in nerves. This wasn't a period that much was obvious.

"Angela!" I shouted, but there was no answer. I let go of the vanity and sank to the floor as yet another wave of pain washed over me. My legs were heavy and my insides felt as if they were being stretched. I reached into the cupboard of the vanity and grabbed a hand mirror and moved it to my legs.

What I saw sent me into level of anxiety and fear I wasn't able to apprehend. The rational side of me was moaning in pain but still trying to come to terms with what I was seeing as I fought the urge to push, not sure of what I was pushing. But after a minute or so the waves of pain quickened and I began involuntarily pushing. The mirror was still in my hands as I sat on the floor. I reached around for any towels I could grab and thrust them between my legs.

I took a deep breath as instinct took over and I breathed out as I tightened everything I had and pushed down hard. The pain was excruciating – but it all went away when I heard the whimper. Sweat poured down my face as the whimper turned into a wail and my eyes adjusted to what they were looking at.

I reached forward and used the clean towel to wipe the baby clean. Baby, my mind was in shock. I couldn't understand what was going on, but I had somehow just given birth to a baby, and not any baby, a baby I didn't even realise I was carrying. The rational side of me knew I had to cut the umbilical cord and get to a hospital.

Getting the baby out of the dorm secretly was proving an issue, it seemed to calm down quickly as I cleaned the bathroom as best as I could leaving a note for Angela when she woke. I held the baby close to my chest as I made my way to my car, right now I was thankful for the Fiesta my father had pushed me into letting him purchase for me.

Walking into the hospital I was finally in shock over what happened. The emergency room was filled with people, some who had been waiting a while. I hadn't showered after cleaning the bathroom and probably looked like a mess.

"Hello, can I help you?" The friendly receptionist said taking a look at my state and the child in my arms.

"Um," I was lost for words on what to say, what if she didn't believe me?

"Your name?"

"Um, Isabella Swan." I shook my head as the baby whimpered slightly. "I uh."

"What brings you here Isabella?" The woman behind the counter asked politely as her gaze fell to my arms and she took in my dishevelled state.

"I need to have my baby checked out." I finally answered with relative calm.

"What seems to be the problem?"

Tears fell down my face and the last hours events hit me like a ton of breaks. "I didn't know I was pregnant."

"Can you speak up dear?"

"I didn't know I was pregnant." I repeated, "Can someone please check over my baby? Please?" It was weird but the motherly instinct that took over as soon as I looked down at the baby.

The triage got up from her seat and opened up the door to the side ushering me in. She asked a million questions and then took the child from me. "Where are you going?"

"We just need to run a few tests to make sure both of you are fine." The lady answered looking down at me and I noticed her green eyes. "My name is Elizabeth. Now Isabella," she started to take my blood pressure. "Would you like to tell me what happened?"

The shock of what had happened was still raging supreme in the internal battle i was facing as I attempted to come to terms with the last few hours. A second nurse took the baby from my arms as Elizabeth sat me down. I hadn't even noticed I was beginning to hyperventilate until she began rubbing my arm to calm me down.

"Bella," I whispered correcting her for calling me by my full name. "Everyone calls me Bella."

"Well Bella, I'm going to start with taking your blood pressure do you want to tell me a bit about yourself?" Elizabeth walked over to the counter and grabbed a few things before doing as she had told me. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen," I answered, "I go to U of A."

"Good school, but you don't strike me as the city girl."

"I'm from a small town called Forks in Washington, by my roommate Angela helped me settle in." It was odd how much this little interaction was calming my nerves. "How did this happen?"

"It's hard to say," I appreciated her honesty in her words, she could have fed me some large words that I wouldn't understand but she kept it simple and honest. "You aren't the first case that's been reported."

"What do you mean? I just had a baby." Tears fell down my cheeks, "I'm nineteen - I shouldn't be in this position."

"150," Elizabeth whispered to herself taking a pen and writing on her chart. "Your blood pressure is a little high but that is to be expected. Now since this was an unknown pregnancy you didn't take any prenatal vitamins so we will need to make sure we get you onto a good vitamin tablet to help relieve some of the stress this will cause on your body trying to re nourish itself. The doctor will be in soon to do some further tests, but they will let you know about your baby as soon as possible."

The next hour flew by in a flurry of activity as I was poked and prodded more times that at my first college party. Surprisingly all the results came back fine, which was a huge relief in itself to me but my hope was dwindling with each minute that went past without hearing from the doctors about my baby. I had been left in the waiting room for an hour at this point and I knew better than to complain as I got disgruntled stares from others who were still waiting from when I had first arrived. But there were a million thoughts running through my head as the time continued to tick by. What was I going to do? How did this happen? When did this happen? Who is the father?

"Bella?" I snapped my head up from staring at the floor which had suddenly become the most interesting thing in the world. Elizabeth stood holding the door open with one hand and reached her free hand to me when i got to my feet and followed her through. "We have some paperwork you need to fill out." Nodding I vaguely listened to what she said as my attention was too focused on everything around me instead of what she was saying. "Do you want to meet her?"

"Her?" I asked confused, through the whole ordeal I hadn't even taken the time to look.

"A beautiful baby girl." Elizabeth flashed her teeth as she smiled.

"She's healthy?"

"Absolutely, everything came back negative and her lungs are fully developed, there is no way she wasn't a full term." I couldn't fight the smile on my face as she took the paperwork from my hands and led me down a long corridor taking a few turns before stopping in front of an open door, stepping into the room my breath caught as I gazed at the tiny body that was encased in a pink blanket. The doctor cut the wrist band from her tiny hand before looking to me.

"Well Isabella, we just need to fill out some paperwork which I'm sure Elizabeth has run through with you and then we can get you two on your way home."

I wanted to hold her, I wanted a good look at this child who had somehow, despite her entrance into the world had won my heart without even trying. It felt like a gravitational pull as my arms reached forward and she was placed in my grasp. I needed to protect her, to give her everything she deserved to have. I could forget college for now, I had to get home.

"How can you love someone so much you just met?" I asked softly as she slept soundly. "Alyssa," they both looked at me silently for a second. "That's her name, Alyssa."

After filling out all the required paperwork I was allowed to leave the hospital, taking my daughter back to the dorm just didn't seem like a logical option. But apparently there wasn't going to be any other way as when i walked out of the emergency department I saw Angela, albeit incredibly hung over sitting by the front door with her sunglasses on as the sun rose.

"Ange," I whispered as the she gazed at the child in my arms. "How did you know?" That was when she revealed that Elizabeth had called the University and asked for her before explaining what had happened. I didn't need to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking as she helped me out the front door and down to her car. "Should you be driving?"

"I'm not, how irresponsible do you think I am?" Digging her keys out of her pocket she opened the back door before turning around to hold her arms out for Alyssa. "May I?"

"What are yo-" I didn't get to finish as she took the child and then began fussing in the backseat. I noticed that she was placing Alyssa into a baby seat. The drive home was quiet but it gave me a chance to think of what I was going to do next, and more importantly i was able to go over a list of people I had slept with in the last year, and it only came down to one man.

Explaining Alyssa to the administration at the university had taken a lot of effort to just let us stay for one week while I gathered myself and made all the arrangements necessary. But it made the decision to move to Forks all that much easier, there wasn't much of an option for us to stay in Arizona. Saying goodbye to Angela was one of the hardest things I had to do, she was the only one who knew what really went down and to no longer that support broke me. But I knew deep down this was going to be for the best.

The drive to Forks gave me a chance to think over the situation that was awaiting me in my head. I was nineteen years old, the responsible girl and I was going to have a lot of explaining to do to my parents. Firstly I would have to explain Alyssa, and that was going to be no easy feat before having to explain why I didn't tell them sooner. Passing the 'Welcome to Forks' sign only started the anxiety a bit too much as I drove down the familiar roads before pulling into the childhood home, Alyssa whimpered in the back as the car came to a stop.

My mother raced out onto the veranda and I could hear her shout to my father who was no doubt in the living room drinking a beer and watching some kind of sport.

"Bella!" Renee, my mother shouted as I raced up the stairs and wrapped my arms around her. She shouted as I raced up the stairs. "What brings you here?"

"You should have told us you were coming lamb." Charlie, my father said from his spot by the door as he took a sip of his beer. "You could have flown instead of driven."

"It gave me time to think Old Man." I teased moving to give him a hug. "I missed you Dad."

"I missed you too Bells." He smiled down at me as I pulled back. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what brings you here?"

This was it; the next five minutes could make or break everything. I didn't say a word as I walked to my car and opened the back door, reaching in I was able to hoist up the baby seat and lift the entire seat out of the car. No matter how much I had thought about this moment, I just wasn't prepared for the looks or judgement on their faces.


End file.
